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LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS 



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J. W. BUEL, 

Of the St. Louis Press. 



SAINT LOUIS: 

W. S. BRYAN, Publisher, 

1880, 






5 I "3 U (* 

Copyrighted, iSSo, by W. S. BRYAN. 




CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Introduction, 5 

The Mysterious Cave, 7 

The Hegira of the Wannepellos, . . .16 

The Eidolon of Happy Hollow, . . . 29 

The Mountain of Tears, 37 

The Field of Silver, 46 

The Legend of the Arlington, . . . .54 
Combat between the Great Spirit and the Dragon, 58 
Condemnation of the Pokanees, .... 64 
Teponah's Fatal Wooing, ..... 68 

The Devil's Cave, 76 

The War in the Happy Hunting Grounds, . 81 

The Lovers and the Twin Springs, ... 85 

The Old Indian's Vision, 99 

Hot Springs, ........ 104 

3 



INTRODUCTION. 



But a few years will elapse w^hen the wild, untu- 
tored fathers of America will have departed forever; 
the last generation of the Red Man will disappear 
like shadows before the zenith flash of Caucasian 
civilization, and only their wierd traditions and 
bright-fancied legends will remain to remind the 
white man of the primeval settlers of the greatest 
Republic that floats a banner 'neath the stars. The 
beautiful imagery and day dreams of the savage, the 
paradise of his hopes, the ambition of his unexam- 
pled nature, the love which he never otherwise ex- 
hibited, and the superstitions which the wild and 
lonesome forests created in him, are worthy of per- 
petuation. They serve to soften the aspersions cast 
upon the Indian's character and ennoble a nature 
which, in the eyes of the progressive and unsympa- 
thetic white man, is pronounced immovable and des- 
titute of moral instincts. 

Where now reposes a graceful city in the valley of 
the Ozark mountains, enlivened by the steady hum 
of an ever active business; under the shadow of that 
long range from out whose base the never-ceasing 



6 INTRODUCTION. 

flow of life and health-imparting waters carries joy in 
its murmuring accents, long years ago lived a band 
of painted Red Men, in the smoke of whose camp- 
fires, the branches of the trees, the clouds overhead, 
or in the chirrups of the forest songster, they saw the 
hand of destiny or divined the immediate future, and 
built their castles of imagery. The wraith of the 
mountain and the elf of the valley spoke to them 
in the whispering winds, and the thunder from the 
clouds drove them into a propiation to their angry 
Spirit-Father. There was fire and wrath in their war 
hearts, but fear and trembling controlled them in 
their solitudes. Such a people cannot help weav- 
ing legends, and their traditions must bear the im- 
press of an exaggerated imagination. It was the 
Good Spirit who gave them happiness, and an Evil 
Spirit, with hideous visage, who interposed obstacles 
or visited them with sickness. 

The writer has succeeded in recovering from the 
musty relics of the past some of the most interesting 
legends having their origin with the Indians and the 
famous Hot Springs of Arkansas, and now seeks to 
preserve them by issuing this little book, containing 
the stories illustrative of the exquisite im.agination 
and veneration of the ancient tribes of America. 



LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 



THE MYSTERIOUS CAVE, 

In the lap of the eternal sun reposed the Massa- 
tonguas. Purgation from every sin against the Great 
White Spirit gave them a land in which perfection 
was seen in every contour of nature, and happiness 
was as illimitable as the spiced breezes these favored 
children breathed. Birds of exquisite plumage filled 
the branches of the trees and carolled their music, 
like sweetest symphonies, unceasingly. It was in a 
charming plain the Massatonguas lived, through 
which flowed a pearly river whose bosom was as 
graceful as the swe'U of a maiden's, and whose banks 
were hidden by a profusion of flowers the exhala- 
tions from which were as incense to the air. The 
arch of heaven bordered the confines of this beautiful 
land, and the happy Massatonguas were ruled by the 
White Spirit who, during every hour, gave them new 
blessings and evidences of her love. 

Thus lived in undisturbed peace and happiness the 
Massatonguas through the long years, like a song the 

7 



8 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

melody from which grows sweeter to the close, and 
with faint and dying echo leaves its beauty in our 
memory. The river which bathed this lovely plain 
had its source hidden in the edge of the ethereal 
paradise, but its outlet was a cave the mysteries of 
which none were allowed to explore. This was the 
only condition imposed by the ruling White Spirit, 
an observance of which was the guarantee of per- 
petual happiness to the Massatonguas. But ages of 
pleasure, with ignorance of pain, at length created 
discord and restlessness among the tribe. Curiosity 
excited a desire to explore the mysterious cave, in 
the recesses of which it was fabled there were beau- 
ties greater than the eye of mortal had ever seen ; 
that it was the portal of a new world peopled by 
elves of surpassing loveliness, whose wigwams were 
of precious stones and the rivers of molten gold. The 
White Spirit besought them to abide their already 
happy condition and avoid the penalty which disobe- 
dience would entail. Her words were like drops of 
crystal on the rocks, they gave back a sound but 
made little impress upon the adventurers' purposes 
A council was called which all the tribe attended. 
The wise men, whose conceit had impaired their 
wis lorn, addressed the assembled multitude and re- 
pir.ited the stones of the mysterious cave, the portal 




iiiiaiiiRII 



sm'^^ 



THE MYSTERIOUS CAVE. 1 1 

of a new world. The witchery of these myths cre- 
ated an ambition in the tribe never felt before ; there 
succeeded to a contented disposition a consuming 
desire for a new condition. The harmony of the 
birds, the incense-laden air, the beauty of the land- 
scape with its graceful undulations garlanded with 
rare exotics, lost all their charms in the wild infatua- 
tion for the exploration of the forbidden cave, and 
soon the sound of the sharp stone axes was heard 
like a tone of bewailing and ominous destiny, min- 
gling with the music of the plumed foresters. The 
boats were built and, when launched, floated so ma- 
jestically upon the pearly river that a shout of joy 
went up to the very heavens from the Massatonguas, 
which caused the White Spirit to weep in copious 
rain and show her anger in the loud peals of thunder 
and flashes of fire which dashed across the now black 
and portentious sky. Many of the tribe were stricken 
with terror, but when the sun again shone through 
the riven clouds and a calm hung over their beauti- 
ful land, fear was dispelled and their determination 
renewed. 

The tribe again assembled on the margin of the 
river and, amidhuzzahs of delighted anticipation, the 
embarkation commenced. More than a hundred 
canoes, freighted with a score of Massatonguas eachi 



12 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

glided gracefully out upon the beautiful water and 
v/ere borne swiftly towards the black portal. The 
camp fires died out, and hushed was the music of 
the birds. A strange rushing of the winds was heard 
overhead and the river rolled uneasily, torturing its 
course like a wounded serpent. The sun was again 
veiled by inky clouds, and from out the boiling ele- 
ments came the voice of the White Spirit : " Thou 
shalt see a new world indeed, but the penalty will be 
eternal sorrow." But onward sped the boats, and 
with minds drunk with fancy the Massatonguas' hearts 
were light, and merrily they drifted. 

Two days did the journey thus continue, but at 
eventide the boats approached the yawning and mys- 
terious cave out of which poured startled birds of 
fihiiy wings terminating with bony claws, and teeth 
like serpents' fangs. The last boat having floated 
within the entrance of this dark cavern, suddenly a 
peal of thunder sounded which shook the arch of this 
now sepulclire and made the water boil, while a sti- 
fling odor arose and volumes of steam filled the space 
almost to suffocation. Looking backwards the Mas- 
satonguas saw the portal close and shut out the light 
of day from them forever. The river sank in its bed 
and from the depths of that beautiful stream the 
White Spirit upheaved the earth and left a range of 
mountains now called the Ozarks. 



THE MYSTERIOUS CAVE. 1$ 

Still live the Massatonguas in eternal sorrow. Un- 
der the mountains, in the pall of perpetual darkness, 
they weep and toss their pain-laden bodies in despair. 
Their tears have worn crevices in the rocks through 
which they trickle unceasingly. In the quiet of the 
night at the base of Crystal Mountain the moans of 
the imprisoned Massatonguas may often be heard, 
and the rush of strange wings sweeps over the Ozark 
range once every year, but never the voice of the 
Great White Spirit is heard again. 

Note. — The weeping rocks are located about five miles south of Hot 
Springs, and are well worth a visit. The water seeps through the pores 
of the mountain rocks and is constantly trickling down their sides. 



THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS, 

The Wannepellos were a peaceful tribe of Indians 
whose country was in the far east. It abounded with 
abundant game and teemed with the most luscious 
products of nature. They never encroached upon 
the territory of neighboring tribes, and opposed an- 
tagonisms of every kind. Not so the Olgondas who, 
living within a short ride of their peaceful neighbors, 
made frequent incursions upon the Wannepellos and 
despoiled them of their possessions, killed their game, 
and made captive the most beautiful maidens of the 
tribe. Emboldened by the success of their depreda- 
tions and the timidity of the less powerful Wanne- 
pellos, the Olgondas at length reduced them to a 
state of captivity. The men were bound with thongs 
and scourged with withes under the slightest pretexts, 
while the women of the unhappy tribe were com- 
pelled to perform the menial labor of the camp. 
This cruel bondage continued for many years and 
until a deliverer was born and raised up among 
them. 

Mannetata — "child of the sun" — was the daughter 
of one of most humble women of the tribe ; she was 
visited in a dream and told that the Great Father had 
i6 



THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 1/ 

witnessed the sorrow of the Wannepellos and would 
reward their contrite spirit by delivering them from 
bondage and giving them a new land in which they 
should abide in uninterrupted happiness; that He 
would make her the instrument for their deliverance, 
but that obedience and faith were requisite to the 
safety and happiness of the tribe. She was enjoined 
never to despair; that her guide would be a bright 
star, following which the path of duty would be plain 
before her. For twelve successive nights did the 
Great Father visit Mannetata in the same dream 
when, on the last morning, she arose and took coun- 
sel with her mother, and then with the wise men of 
her tribe. While half doubting and undecided a star 
was seen to leave the heavens and fall directly in front 
of her, resting in suspension a few feet from the 
ground. Suddenly Mannetata felt an inspiration, 
and an impulse to obey the injunctions of her dream. 
She approached the star and saw that it rested above 
the head of the fierce chief of the Olgondas. Moved 
by the spirit of the Great Father, thus spoke Manne- 
tata : " Mantesee, Chief of the Olgondas, the com- 
mon Spirit-Father of all tribes has grieved long for 
the bondage of the Wannepellos ; they who have 
humbled themselves before Him and have departed 
not from the ways of peace should not be made the 



1 8 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

servants of men. . The birds of the forest are free and 
the game He gives you are alike for all people. 
These are your brothers ; unbind their strangled 
limbs and bid them go to their freedom. Let not the 
moon of another night visit the Wannepellos in sor- 
row, nor another dream steal upon them with delusive 
freedom. Bid them be free." 

Mantesee was heartless as the cougar that dallies 
with its prey, and twice the moon went round with 
the Wannepellos still in fetters. The star again ap- 
peared to Mannetata and she again responded to its 
purpose. Then she was told that on the succeeding 
night a profound sleep would fall upon the Olgondas ; 
to arouse her people, whose fetters would fall from 
their limbs, and follow the star. 

When the shades of twilight were gathering, the 
Olgondas were seized with slumber, each one falling 
where he stood, and in the quiet of the camp the 
Wannepellos stole softly out and followed Mannetata 
and the star, pausing not throughout the long nighty 
but pressing forward with cheerful feet and hearts 
full of thanks for their release from a bondage the 
beginning of which was with a generation long since 
departed to the land of shadows. Forward pressed 
they onward, and when the dawn appeared they 
were many leagues from their cruel masters. 



THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 1 9 

The sun was mountain high in the heavens when 
the Olgondas brushed the drowsy languor from their 
eyes and found their captives gone from among 
them. Mantesee, the fierce chief, arose with anger 
impressed on his brow. He tossed back the tangled 
tresses o'er his shoulder and, in a voice of vengeful 
determination, bade his every brave to follow and 
bring back or slay the Wannepellos. With bows 
strung for fighting and war clubs tethered to their 
horses, mounted the Olgondas, and rode they furi- 
ously in the track of the fleeing tribe. Beautiful 
Mannetata, with step as lithesome as the deer which 
fled before her, kept her eyes fixed upon the star 
which led her onward, and the tramp of the Wanne- 
pellos was measured with the rhythm of freedom. 
Over the purling streams, through the verdant prai- 
ries, under the soughing trees, cheered by the merry 
music of the forest warblers, strode they forward 
without resting. On the second "day, weary of feet 
and weak of fasting, Mannetata paused before the 
resting star and bade her people pitch their tents and 
light the camp fires. The abounding game gave 
meat to the hungered tribe and the mellow turf fur- 
nished couch magnificent for their wearied limbs. So 
passed they many hours in the peace of liberty and 
the quiet of the forest, 



20 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

The repose was broken by the sound of horses' 
feet echoing through the wood, and before the star- 
tled vision of the Wannepellos appeared the fierce 
Mantesee with his tribe of cruel warriors. Onward 
rushed the wild Olgondas, but when the bows were 
bent and ere the arrows had left the string, a mighty 
wall of fire swooped down from heaven and a cry of 
anguish lingering in the fretted air told how the con- 
suming swathe had avenged the wrongs of the Wan- 
nepellos. Under the paling moon, beside the musi- 
cal brook, on the verdant margin of the stream, 
Mannetata built a pyre whereon still burns the fire 
of sacrifice, in the blaze of which may be read the 
prayerful thanks of a delivered people. 

When the day god threw his glintling rays through 
the forest again the star of direction cast its light 
athwart the path of Mannetata and, lifting her infant 
brother to ease the fatigue,of her mother, the journey 
was continued. From the plain of verdant beauty 
came the pathway up a mountain, over rocks of sharp 
projections, through the briars and prickly brambles. 
Still the star led through the thickets and Mannetata 
followed full of hope, but sometimes despairing. The 
game grew less abundant and the streams of darker 
color; murmured now the Wannepellos that their 
path was steeper growing and their burdens and 




21 



Mannetata and her Brothers, 



THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 23 

afflictions greater. Forgetting now the soreness of 
their bondage, and the deHverance from their cruel 
masters, greater still became their complaints. Some, 
more angered than the others, said : ** Sure this 
witch, this Mannetata, will lead us to destruction ; 
already are our feet sore and our bodies weary, 
while hunger enfeebles us and almost stays our jour- 
ney. Who is this maid whose lowly mother has 
brought up to bring us out of bondage into a land of 
ills, unto destruction?" Thus many spoke, and 
anger flamed up in the hearts of the Wannepellos 
against the beautiful maiden, the sun-child Manne- 
tata. 

When midnight came, and anger in the hearts of 
the Wannepellos blended with their dreams of bond- 
age, the Spirit-Father appeared to Mannetata, and in 
a voice of rage and passion told his vengeance to the 
maiden : " Have I not delivered them from bondage, 
from out the land of sorrow, with my promises of a 
land wherein their pleasures shall be forevermore ? 
Now seek they for your pure life, and have turned 
their backs upon me. But I will temper their spirits, 
and as the wall of flame swept up their enemies so 
shall their disobedience entail a like punishment upon 
them." 

Mannetata, with head bowed in deepest reverence. 



24 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

and eyes bathed with tears ; grieving for her people 
and regarding not the anger against herself, with 
voice of suplication, answered : " Praise be to thee, 
O, Father of the Wannepellos, thy tribe whose dis- 
obedience has turned thy love to anger, and whose 
afflictions have stolen their remembrance of thy 
providence. If their sins require human sacrifice I 
implore thee, Great Spirit-Father, to accept this offer- 
ing. I am but one while they are many ; a new 
generation may beget the humility of our fathers, and 
from the loins of anger may spring again thine own 
people humbled before thy name." Thus answer- 
ed the pure and lovely maiden, and the Spirit-Father, 
moved from his purpose by the sacrifice and abne- 
gation of Mannetata, with voice of tender feeling 
replied : ** Thou art my child and thy sacrifice can- 
not atone for the sins of thy people. I will spare 
their lives, but their disobedience shall be punished 
by ills of the flesh. I will visit them with afflictions ; 
grievous pains shall seize them and they shall lan- 
guish in extreme suffering; but the period of their 
punishment will end after forty moons, and I will 
bring them to the land I promised, but it shall be as 
a vision soon departed." Thus replied the Spirit- 
Father, and then vanished. 

Again the morning dawned, but though the plain 



THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 2$ 

below was visible and the end of the treacherous and 
difficult pathway seen, no joy succeeded, for there 
arose loud lamentations, as each manifested their 
suffering-, and henceforth the Wannepellos were 
agonized with unremitting pains. Slowly the journey 
was renewed, many pulling themselves along the 
ground, others tottering like the stricken deer, whilst 
others were carried by the less afflicted. No longer 
were there mutterings against Mannetata, for she 
alone remained free from the plague, and the Spirit- 
Father had enlightened the tribe to the cause of 
their punishment. Contrition and veneration suc- 
ceeded, until in the midst of their agony they ack- 
nowledged the justice of the penalty. 

Thus languished the Wannepellos until forty 
moons had been driven across the heavens, and they 
had entered a country whose lovely landscapes were 
like the fabled meadows of paradise. Here ran the 
purest water in its many devious ways, some of which 
was like nectar to the taste, whilst some was hot and 
sent forth clouds of vapor. Here in this beautiful 
valley rested the suffering Wannepellos. Mannetata 
saw the star guide drop into a pool of liquid crystal, 
and with a blessing upon the water bathed her feet, 
and again the camp-fires blazed up brightly. This 
was the Eidouranion, the Land the Great Spirit had 



26 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

promised. Abode they in this lovely valley in the 
morning, but when the evening came a cloud arose 
from the purling stream until hidden was the land- 
scape ; then it drifted slowly upward until lifted was 
the shadow with the meadows and the streams of 
liquid crystal ; behold ! from the mist of circling vapors 
saw the tribe the changing country ; where lay the 
plain of promise now arose the Ozark mountains. 
Sad of heart were now the Wannepellos ; grieved 
they for the loss of the land of promise, and suffered 
still with their afflictions. Then came the gentle 
maiden, the sun child Mannetata, and her magic 
power revealing smote the base of the rock-ribbed 
mountain. Out gushed the smoking water till it ran 
in laughing gambols ; till it laved the disease-stricken 
Wannepellos, and washed their pains with healing 
virtues. The lame grew strong, their sores were 
healed, the swollen muscles became like the sinewy 
oaks, and the wrinkles of age were smoothed till the 
flesh was like childhood. Happy then were the 
Wannepellos, free from pain and freed from bondage. 
So they builded here a temple at the apex of the 
mountain, from out whose base gushed the healing 
waters. High of head was the sacred temple, a 
monument of thanks to the Great Father and to 
Mannetata. 



THE HEGIRA OF THE WANNEPELLOS. 2/ 

Long lived the tribe on the mountain and in the 
valley, while the water still kept flowing, giving 
health to all afflicted. Then there came from out 
the heavens a cloud of fire before the vision of the 
Wannepellos, and it rested on the temple. Then did 
Mannetata know it was a message from the Spirit- 
Father; that her duty was now ended and she must 
leave her people. Gathering them about her, thus 
she spoke, with tears of sorrow at the parting, with 
words of joy for the meeting with the shadows gone 
before : " The fire cloud on the temple bids me hence 
to the hereafter, to the loved ones of our people long 
since departed. Ere I go receive my blessing and 
remember that from out the sky above still will the 
eye of Mannetata watch the conduct of the Wanne- 
pellos. Love thou each his brother and the land of 
promise will be before you, gained at last with Man- 
netata." So the sun-child, still a maiden, yet with 
many moons upon her, reached the temple and from 
its portals waved her hand and ascended slowly up- 
ward, till the cloud of flame shone in the ether like 
a star of radient splendor. Straight above us in the 
heavens, like a diamond in its setting, lives the mai- 
den Mannetata, while around her in the evening, 
happy in the Land of Promise, laugh and sing her 
joyous people. 



28 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

The heated waters, still washing the base of the 
mountain, were the gift of the Great Father, and will 
flow forever, singing his praise and healing all peo- 
ple. 

Note. — The location of the temple from whence Mannetata as- 
cended was on the apex of Hot Springs Mountain, almost on the site 
now occupied by an observatory. It is reached by a winding roadway 
about one mile in length, beginning near the depot of the Hot Springs 
Railroad, and also by a pathway from the Arlington Hotel. The east 
side of the mountain is precipitous, with a ledge of rocks overlooking 
a broad and beautiful valley many miles in extent. Many of the large 
stones bear evidences of Indian handiwork and there are numerous 
indications of ancient ruins found scattered over the entire mountain. 



THE EIDOLON IN HAPPY HOLLOW. 

MiNNEOLA was the daughter of Nanketuka, chief 
of the Petonahs. Her beauty was warm and mellow 
as the sun, and her form graceful as the bow of heaven. 
The dews of paradise were in her eyes and the sym- 
phony of shadow musicians in her voice. Flowers 
sprung up from her footsteps and out of her midnight 
tresses she flung the stars. Pocotacus, the athlete, 
loved Minneola like the spring buds love the sun; he 
bathed in the life-giving light of her eyes and drooped 
like a perishing flower in her absence. So loved Min- 
neola, but Nanketuka, the lion father, whose heart 
was as inflexible as the mountain, hated Pocotacus 
and sought to bend the love of his lovely child toward 
VVonomeda, the crafty warrior of the tribe. Failing 
thus in his endeavors, Nanketuka imprisoned Minne- 
ola in a lonely mountain cave with secret only known 
to Wonomeda, who visited the maiden and poured 
his love into her fretful ear, promising her freedom 
and the rarest jewels the womb of earth could bear. 
But she saw no favor in the offer, for her heart was 
like the dew-d ops which sparkle only in the sun, 
and pined she for Pocotacus, the elixir of her life. 

Unrelenting in his purpose, the chief considered not 

29 



30 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

the happiness of his lovely daughter and with bitter 
rage he seized Pocotacus and cast him into a cave 
on the opposite side of the mountain. Here he 
lingered in great anguish, caring not for his affliction, 
but with grief for Minneola. Here while kneeling in 
devotion pouring out his lamentations, in the damp 
and dungeon cavern, cast his useless eyes around 
him and perceiving in the distance a light of flicker- 
ing brightness, his heart leapt with emotion, then with 
anguish lest it be the messengers from Nanketuka to 
execute his death. But when nearly it approached 
him he perceived the bearer was a lady on whose 
head was a crown of starry splendor, — it was the 
Spirit of the Cave. Coming nearer she addressed 
him : ** Why hast thou invaded the precincts of the 
phantoms, come into the shadows where mortals 
must not be? Speak, lest the fire I hold consume 
thee, and thy life be taken here." Then answered 
Pocotacus and told his love for the maiden, and with 
head bowed low before her bade the spirit consume 
his anguished heart. But the anger of her face up- 
lifted and with pity stealing o'er her, she gave her hand 
to the lover and answered, ** Follow me." Straight- 
way the two went forward and the cavern walls rolled 
backward, clearing a pathway before them until, sitting 
in the distance, wailing and despairing, he saw his 




31 



Pocotacus, the Athlete. 



THE EIDOLON OF HAPPY HOLLOW. 33 

Minneola, and soon clasped her in his arms. It was 
like the blending of the waters, the meeting of the 
sunbeams, the union of the flowers or the kissing of 
sweet incense, so clasped they one another lest some 
sorrow should come between. 

While the lovers were thus raptured, dwelling in 
the fragrance of their own sweet meeting, the tramp 
of Nanketuka and Wonomeda and their angered tone 
of vengeance, came ringing through the cave. Fear 
and sorrow brooded o'er the lovers, but the Spirit of 
the Cavern gave them promise of protection. Then 
the rocks heaved heavily and one by one rolled to- 
gether until the granite walls enclosed them and of 
earth they saw no more. Still the chieftain sought 
his daughter, the lovely Minneola, sought in the caves 
and forests, mourned her long and prayed for pity, 
but he found her nevermore. There beneath the 
mountain, where runs the crystal water through the 
valley and the trees, lives the athlete Pocotacus and 
his sweet wife Minneola. Passed from life into the 
shadows, from the body to the soul-life, without 
passing through the portal where the body rusts and 
bleaches, passed they into life eternal with the Spirit 
of the Cave. There they live in blissful splendor, 
with the beautiful Stalacta, in the cavern walled with 
diamonds and with floors of precious gems ; corridors 



34 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

with golden columns, arched with porphyry, and 
studded with emeralds from the sea. Music floats 
throughout this bright elysian with swells and undu- 
lations like the swimming air, and the laugh of happy 
spirits rings its melody through the halls. Down in 
Happy Hollow, when the brook dries up its babble, 
and the pipers of the forest hush their music with the 
trees; in the peace of perfect quiet may yet be heard 
faintly the peals of joyous laughter from Minneola 
and her lover in the palace of happy spirits, in the 
paradise of Stalacta, in the cave of love eternal. 

Note. — Happy Hollow separates Hot Springs mountain from Park 
mountain. It contains a chalybeate spring and runs out into Hot 
Springs Valley one block west of tlie Arlington Hotel. 




35 



The Head of Happy Hollow, 



THE MOUNTAIN OP TEARS. 

In the mountains and the Hot Springs valley was 
the land of the Piowas, while below them twenty- 
leagues, to the margin of the blue Ouachita, lived 
the war-like Chocatacas. There was strife and hate 
between them, until at last, poaching upon the terri- 
tory of each other, the snake-skin, filled with eagle's 
feathers, was exchanged and the war-dance round 
the camp-fire was the signal for the conflict. In the 
valley and on the mountain flew the arrows and 
gleamed the knives, while the war-whoops and the 
charges drove the birds from out the forests and the 
game sought other country far away. Still they 
fought and the battle-grounds grew mellow, while 
the river changed its color to a wounded hue. Sor- 
row sat by every camp-fire and the wailings of the 
women, mingling with the stricken warriors, hurtled 
through the air like a besom of destruction. Thus 
the fighting still continued until famine came stalk- 
ing like a wraith between them. Then the blazing 
eyes of anger dropped their light and became like 
ashes ; the weakened hands unclasped their weapons 
and the ghastly stare of hunger was like a truce 
which stops a battle. Fain would they have drunk 

37 



38 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

the blood of one another, but the veins became as 
sunken furrows, and the strength to kill and draw- 
had vanished. Dimly now burned all the camp-fires, 
and the reeling smoke grew into spectres, while the 
weazened faces of the women wore the visage of the 
gnomes. Not a sign of game was visible, and the 
birds had flown affrighted from the tumult of the 
fights. The children wailed for food which was not, 
while the little papoose drew the dugs of its famished 
mother and, wisting not its portion, stretched its 
withering limbs and died. And the mother, without 
nourishment, but the instinct, threw her fleshless form 
upon the ground, and with fingers clenching the hard 
earth tried to suck the grasses and the gravel and to 
blow the life again into her famished babe. 

The very air seemed sick with hunger, for it lin- 
gered through the branches like a drowsy beetle in 
the winter, and the clouds above were motionless as 
the sea that awaits the storm burst. " How slowly 
death comes to the tortured," this was all the armies 
uttered, and the waiting still continued. 

On the seventh day of this dreadful famine above 
the mountains rose a black cloud, but the lining was 
of tinselled silver. Moving slowly like the cohorts 
of an army came the cloud until it rested and blew 
its shadow over the famished camp and camp-fire. 




The War Dance. 



The mountain of tears. 41 

Then from out the lowering vapor across the tinseled 
border appeared a woman clothed in sun-rays, so 
bright that it closed the eyes from weakness. In her 
right hand she held a tray of silver, and in her left a 
cup of gold, while from her lips she flung the breath 
of life. Slowly she approached the quiet armies, 
and passing softly among the dead and dying, from 
the tray she ministered food, and from the cup she 
gave sweet water. And thus were fed the warriors 
and the women, but still the store of food was not 
exhausted. 

For many days did the sun-clothed spirit move 
among the stricken armies, until famine had departed, 
and the red Ouachita ran its blue threads again along 
the grass-grown margin, till the game and forest 
warblers came speeding back to the peace-hushed 
countryl whence they left. 

Then breaking a cleft from the lime-stone, the 
Spirit fashioned it into a peace-pipe, and fixing a stem 
from the fire-tree, she filled the bowl with the leaves 
of the woodland, and drawing the smoke like a 
whirlwind, she scattered its wreaths till the cerulean 
cloud covered aU the people. And thus spake the Spir- 
it of Peace ere she took her departure : " The Great 
Father bestows his gifts alike upon all ; He gives you 
the sun in whose light you may see His blessings; 



4^ LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

and the moon that you may never be cast into dark- 
ness. The forests are filled with your food, and the 
water flows free to your uses. Why seek you strife 
when peace clothes all things with happiness ? why 
grieve the Great Father with your anger when He 
visits you alone with compassion? The phantoms 
of those gone before you, now at peace in the here- 
after, are moved with sorrow at your fighting. Now 
build you a pyre for the dead and make a peace- 
offering to the Great Spirit; let your tears of contri- 
tion fall like the showers of the spring-time, that 
love and forgiveness may rest with you forever." 
Then slowly ascended the spirit, but dropped from 
her hands the silver tray and the golden cup, till 
gathered in the vapory clouds she disappeared from 
their vision. 

Brightly blazed now the smouldering camp-fires, 
and the two tribes mingled into one like the meeting 
of the waters. So they collected their dead, and 
midway between the lands of the two the tribes built 
the pyre they were commanded. Thereon they laid 
the dead, the victims of war and famine, and the rays 
of the sun set fire to the faggots till the flames reached 
into cloud-land, and in the smoke from the pyre they 
saw the spirits of the offering, and the land of happy 
hunting. 



THE MOUNTAIN OF TEARS. 45 

The Piowas and Chocatocas, now blended into one 
tribe, when the first moon rose above them packed 
their camp, and journeyed to the shrine and pyre 
they builded. Here, with the silver tray of choice 
food and the golden cup with purest water, their 
offering renewed and poured their tears out like the 
spring-time showers. Every tear became a crystal, 
like the amber of the sorrowing sea-bird weeps, till 
there grew a crystal mountain with a crown of 1am- 
bient iris. Then the Father accepted the offering of 
his people and gave them peace eternal. 

Note. — Crystal Mountain can scarcely be said to belong to the 
Ozark Range. It is about thirty miles south of Hot Springs, and is 
the center of a very beautiful landscape. The mountain is composed 
largely of quartz-crystal, agates, porphyries and Hot Springs diamonds, 
out of which very handsome jewelry is made. Some of the crystal 
formations are as peculiar as they are lovely. Many of them are found 
bearing beautiful architectural appearances. In some of the larger 
blocks will be seen pillars of crystals supporting a smooth ceiling, the 
pillars being placed equi-distant from each other and every part in 
admirable proportion. The Hot Springs diamonds have a brilliancy 
equal to the Brazilian pebble. There is a good road leading to Crys- 
tal Mountain, which furnishes a fine drive for invalids. 



THE FIELD OF SILVER, 

After the return of Ponce de Leon from his vain 
search for the Fountain of Youth, several of his 
adventurous voyageurs, hearing the stories of the 
fabulous wealth which, like a mirage before the vision 
of the parched traveler, disappeared only to appear 
again, concluded to make a second journey into the 
wilderness. Replenishing their stores they recrossed 
the Gulf of Mexico and landed near the Balize, under 
the leadership of Valisco Bazaare, one hundred 
strong. They were clothed in beautiful armor and 
their weapons were the most effective that date 
afforded. 

The company struck the Mississippi river near 
where the city of New Orleans is now located and 
followed that stream until their course was obstructed 
by another stream, on account of the peculiar color 
of which they named the Red river. Here they met 
a band of Indians who manifested great fear, believ- 
ing the Spaniards to be descendants from the sun, and 
as a propitiation which they believed was required 
the Indicins built a great fire upon which they intended 
sacrificing several of their maidens. The sacrilegious 
sacrifice was interrupted by a conference obtained 

46 



THE FIELD OF SILVER. 4/ 

through an Indian boy whom Bazaare had secured 
from de Leon. After learning the nature of their 
strange visitors the Indians indicated their pleasure 
at the meeting by many evidences of friendship. 
Bazaare showed them pieces of silver and by aid of 
the interpreter explained to them that he and his fol- 
lowers were in search of that precious metal. The 
chief of the tribe told the Spaniards that towards the 
north, near the source of another river which flowed 
into the one on the banks of which they were 
encamped, there was a large and beautiful field of 
silver but that it was guarded by the spirits of the 
mountain, at the base of which the field lay. The 
chief charged the white adventurers not to attempt 
the exploration of the silver country, for around the 
mysterious land there was a fatal vapor which poi- 
soned everything that came within its misty circle. 

The Spaniards took no regard for the danger they 
were told of and, on the following morning, they 
crossed Red River in the canoes kindly furnished by 
the natives and, being directed in their course, in a 
few days they struck the stream (the Ouachita), near 
the head of which the Indians told them was the 
Field of Silver. 

Their journey lay mostly through an uneven coun- 
try, and the progress was slow and painful. At 



48 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

length they pitched their camp upon a level plain, 
through which flowed the bright blue river and, in 
the distance, they beheld the mountains, raising up 
their sun-clothed heads like the leviathan in his 
gambols. 

In the purple of the morning the Spaniards saw 
the gray mists circling and expanding, and in the 
vapory rifts were gleams of light like burnished sil- 
ver. Then their hearts grew gladsome and the cross 
was lifted, while the forest re-echoed the first sound 
it had ever caught of the devotional Te Deum. The 
camp was hurriedly folded and the journey taken 
towards the mist of the valley, which bathed the feet 
of the mountains. 

There before them lay the Field of Silver, bare 
and desolate in its solitude, with no motion save the 
vapor which moved about it, and the gleams of light 
that were shooting from it. Who would dare to en- 
ter this Field of Silver, to cross the fatal vapor line 
and pluck the precious metal from its ancient bed? 
Then the Priest, with his crozier uplifted, in the 
name of God and Ferdinand, strode across the va- 
por, but the Field of Silver melted, while the circling 
mists rose upward and the Priest, with all the Span- 
iards, were left standing among the rocks and pine 
trees. 



THE FIELD OF SILVER. 49 

Though Bazaare was disappointed, yet his heart 
beat with his purpose, and in the field of beautiful 
mirage the Spaniards pitched their tents and, 
with tools provided, they dug the earth for silver. 
Their labor was rewarded, for scarcely had they 
reached a man's depth when they found the 
ore so rich that it needed little smelting. These 
hardy adventurers toiled with well-paid labor, and 
each day carried the product of the digging to the 
river (the Ouachita), where they built boats to send 
the precious metal to the Gulf, from whence it could 
be transported to Spain. But although a shaft was 
sunk to the depth of a hundred feet, the boats were 
not quite loaded, yet the share of each was now a 
fortune. 

In the mountains there was a tribe of Indians called 
the Shoshgones, whose fierce chief was always bent 
on cruel deeds. He had seen the Spaniards working 
but believed they were children of the sun-God, who 
could dispel the poison vapor of the sun-field. But 
this delusion was dispelled by an accident which cost 
the life of a Spaniard whose remains were buried in 
the sight of the cruel chief 

At midnight shortly after, when the moon had left 
the heavens, Bazaare was awakened by the footsteps 
pf a little Indian maiden. Quickly, when the torch 



50 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS- 

was lighted, by many strange and curious gestures 
she told the Spanish leader how the chief had 
planned his murder and the death of all his comrades ; 
that when the next full moon ascended it was the 
signal for the slaughter and to slay and spare not 
was the order. 

In the early morning Bazaare told the warning of 
the little maiden and ordering the shaft filled up with 
stones, they broke their camp, marked well the loca- 
tion, gained their boats and casting away stole down 
the river. For many days they drifted, until at last 
they reached the gulf and, coasting along the shore 
when the weather was propitious, they reached at 
length the Keys of Florida. Meeting here with re- 
turning voyagers they shipped for Spain carrying 
with them a large and ample treasure. 

These hardy Spaniards never returned to America 
again, but beside the blazing Yule-log they told their 
story to their children, and gave the marks of the 
location. Long years thereafter, when the boundary 
of the states had marked the confines of America's 
civilization, there appeared a man with no compan- 
ions save his staff and compass, wending his tedious 
way along the banks of the Ouachita, observing the 
bends of the trees, the ledges of stones, and the path- 
way of the river. He was searching for the Field of 




j^Ml 




tttfi FiELb OP siLVEk. §3 

Silver by the light of the legends of his fathers ; the 
Field has disappeared but still there is silver for the 
digging. 

Note. — This legend is founded upon facts which are now clearly 
established. In truth, it may be said, with the possible exception of 
the Field of Silver — which may have been a mirage — the record of this 
legend is a narrative of valuable history. The topography of the 
country and the peculiar nature of the surroundings compared with 
the description transmitted by Bazaare and his followers, which is still 
preserved, accords with wonderful exactness with a locality about two 
miles from Hot Springs. Not only does the topography of the spot 
indicate the location of the great silver mine, but there is also the evi- 
dence of a shaft once sunk and then filled up. A gentleman of means 
is now engaged in reopening the mine, and with the labor of each day 
his belief in the truth of the story, as given in the legend, increases and 
that he is digging the thrown-in-stones and earth from the original 
shaft. That the country about Hot Springs is rich with silver admits 
of no question, in view of the discoveries in Montgomery county and 
near the new town of Silver City recently made by Col. Joseph Rey- 
nolds, generally known as Diamond Joe. There is now a great rush 
to this new mining region which has every prospect of importance, 
equal, in fact, to the best mining camps in the west. Assays of average 
ore raised in March, 1880, from a shaft twenty feet in depth, in Mont- 
gomery county, showed $200 to the ton. 



LEGEND OF THE ARLINGTON. 

The Pinnetahs were the pigmies of American 
Indians. They occupied the Hot Springs valley, so 
the legend tells us, ** when the sun was young, and 
green were the heads of all the mountains." They 
were so small that the valley supported nearly fifty 
thousand, and their game was birds and beetles. 
Although exceedingly small, their bravery was like 
the king of the forest, and their industry like the 
bees, the honey of which they gathered. 

The great enemy of the Pinnetahs was a large, 
ferocious bird called the Bakka. It was represented 
as having an eye like the sun, a head like a bear, the 
claws of the congar, and a beak as long and sharp 
as the buck's antlers. Its wings reached across the 
valley, and wherever it flew its shadow fell over the 
earth like the clouds of an impending storm. 

The Bakka had its nest on the peak of a neigh- 
boring mountain and daily, when the sun was in the 
zenith, the bird of evil omen would wing his ambling 
flight over the crags to the valley and, with a swoop 
like the whirlwind, would scatter the brands of the 
camp-fire and seize in each talon his prey from 
among the unfortunate Pinnetahs ; then mounting 

54 



LEGEND OF THE ARLINGTON. 55 

on high Hke a flame of destruction would leave the 
wails of the victims' relations behind him. And thus 
fed the Bakka upon the flesh of the helpless Pinne- 
tahs, till their bones had covered the mountain; till 
their dead was like the leaves of the forest. 

The Arlingtongees were the pixies of the Indians ; 
the little sprites of good intention who, making 
themselves invisible at their pleasure, often gave 
assistance to the needy, and abated oppressions suf- 
fered by the goodly. 

Suffering at great length, the Pinnetahs gathered 
in their council and decided to pay penance for their 
transgressions and to solicit the aid of the Arling- 
tongees, to destroy their enemy, the Bakka. For seven 
days the fires were not allowed to smoulder, and in 
the smoke they scattered incense, till the air was like 
the breath of the flowers and the woods grew mel- 
low like the spring-time. 

In the balm of early sun-shine, the twitter of the 
song birds and the perfume of the valley stood an 
army of the Arlingtongees, clothed like the web of 
the spider, with their coats of hazy thistle-down and 
their caps of velvet azure. They were ready for the 
battle, with their spears of crimson gossamer ; they 
would aid the little Pinnetahs to fight the mighty 
bird, the Bakka. Then these little tribes of people, 



S6 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

strong in union and subtle in their purpose, built a 
wall of great dimensions ; built it high and strong as 
stone could make it; then they covered it with 
branches, strewed leaves and branches on it, and 
above it they cut and bent the pine trees till they 
hung impending over the inclosure, ready to fall on 
it when the trigger should be broken. Next the 
little workers dug an exit through which they might 
escape when the bird should drop upon them, and 
their labor being finished they waited till the morn- 
ing for the bird of evil omen. When the gray of 
dawn uplifted and the burnished rays of morning 
came straggling o'er the mountain, then they saw the 
winged monster, in his shambling flight, cast his 
shadow till it was flung down in the valley and en- 
veloped the Pinnetahs and their tree-capped walls 
built to slay the cruel Bakka. 

Poising like the fisher, holding his great body in 
suspension, while the pigmies entered the walled en- 
closure and through the exit to their safety, swooped 
down the mighty bird of evil, crashing through the 
branches and the brambles, till the falling of the 
cover sprung the trigger that sustained it, and the 
heavy pine trees broke like thunder in their fall upon 
the Bakka, which they crushed like the grinding of 
the rocks when they tumble from the mountain. 



LEGEND OF THE ARLINGTON. $7 

From the dying bird of evil rose a vapor dyed in 
crimson, till it spread across the heavens like a blan- 
ket wet with murder; then it lifted and expanded, 
drifting slowly northward till it vanished from the 
vision, leaving a smoke and stiffling odor in its trail. 
Thus the bird of evil died, by the cunning of the Ar- 
lingtongees, and the labor of the pigmies, and released 
were all the phantoms held in torment by his cruel 
and mysterious power. Then the pixies called the 
wind to aid them, to blow the carcass of the Bakka 
to the regions it had sprung from, and out of the 
spot where lay the dead bird gushed a hot and 
soothing water that would heal all pains that flesh 
was heir to ; that from out the source of evil might 
flow a compensation as a proof of the compassion 
which the Great Spirit feels for all his people. 

Note. — The Indians first met with by Ponce de Leon — the descend- 
ants of whom related the legend, — after repeating the story, pointed 
to the head of the Hot Springs valley as the place where the Bakka, 
the bird of evil, was destroyed, and on the exact spot now occupied 
by the magnificent Arlington Hotel. 



COMBAT BETWEEN THE GREAT SPIRIT 
AND THE DRAGON 

In the mountains of the Ozarks, in a cave as dark 
as midnight and so deep it could not be sounded, 
lived the Dragon Mogmothon, who feasted on the 
souls of the departed. His eyes were like globes of 
livid fire, which lighted up the cavern and his voice 
was the thunder of the heavens. When he walked 
the earth his head was hid in the clouds and his feet 
were so large that they covered the valleys. His 
breath was so hot that it set fire to the forest and, 
when angered, the lightning flashed from his eyes 
and the clouds were riven asunder. When the storm 
burst over the mountains Mogmothon fought with 
the Great Spirit, but when the sun, which he sought 
to steal, broke through the rifts again it was the sign 
that the vanquished Dragon had returned to his 
cavern. His power was seen in the earthquake, and 
his cruelty in the disease and pestilence he scattered. 

Thus lived the monster Mogmothon, the Fiery 
Dragon, and all the tribes were in dejection, wailing 
for the souls of the departed. Then they called a 
council of all nations for a period of invocation to the 
Father of all people to compass the destruction of the 

58 



COMBAT WITH THE GREAT SPIRIT. 6 1 

Dragon. For seven years the councils offered sacri- 
fice, till they purged themselves of all transgressions, 
and the father looked upon them with an eye of love 
and pity. Then He resolved to fight Mogmothon, to 
call the winds from their abiding, and to summon all 
just spirits. The sun should withhold his brightness 
until the air was frigid, and the atmosphere was 
turgid. 

With a voice of strong intention the Great Spirit 
called the Dragon ; called until the forests trembled 
and the mountains shook like leaves in autumn. The 
winds were freighted with the winter and blew a 
sheet of frosted ice across the heavens. Then the 
fierce and mighty Dragon heard the challenge of the 
Great Spirits, and, shaking his sides with rage till the 
earth heaved like the waves of the ocean, he came 
forth from his cave breathing flames and sulphurous 
vapors. His voice was like the roar of the tornado 
and, swinging his ponderous limbs over the valleys 
and mountains, he stretched his massive head into 
the clouds and hurled defiance at the Father of all 
people. The battle then begun and waged until its 
fury blackened the air through which hurled the 
engines of the savage combat. The deep toned 
thunder was the voice of Mogmothon and his darts 
were pointed with the fire th^it never dies. Occasion- 



62 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

ally through the rifts and fragments of the black 
clouds, could be seen the blaze of pestilential flames, 
and the arrowy shafts of fiery worlds vaulting from 
the hands of the Great Father, smiting the armored 
hide of the Dragon. 

For seven days this mighty contest lasted, until all 
the stars were gathered in the hand of the Great 
Spirit and hurled at Mogmothon ; then the chill and 
freezing air numbed the arms and froze the breath of 
the Evil Spirit ; turned his eyes of fire into orbs of 
ice, and his blood was stiff and turgid. Heavy and 
blinded like the mortally wounded bear, Mogmothon, 
the Evil Spirit, plunged about without a purpose, 
until weak of limb and stricken sorely he fell like the 
avalanche that swoops down the crag, or the hurricane 
blast that levels the forest. Thus ended the fight and 
the Dragon was thrown in his cavern where, wounded 
and shorn of his power, he languished like one whose 
soul is lost forever. The Great Spirit closed the cave 
that Mogmothon might never again reappear upon 
earth to breath his poisonous vapors nor feed upon 
the spirits of the departed. He cannot die, but the 
anguish from his pains becomes sometimes so great 
that the Dragon lashes the walls of his underground 
prison until the earth trembles, and volumes of flame 
^nd smoke issue from the peaks of the mountain^. 



COMBAT WITH THE GREAT SPIRIT. 63 

Although Mogmothon can never again walk the 
earth to destroy its people, yet the Great Spirit has 
placed a sign in the sky to remind all Indians of his 
fight and victory with the Evil Spirit. When the 
thunder roars and the lightning flashes through the 
black portentious clouds it is the image of the battle ; 
and when the bow of beautiful colors throws its grace- 
ful arch like a shadow on the sky it is the token that 
the Great Spirit spans the earth with peace. 

From the spot where fell the Dragon the Father 
broke the crust of the earth and from the rent gushed 
forth the healing waters of life which shall flow for- 
ever as His special gift to all His people. 

Note. — This legend is one of the oldest in the ancient history of the 
tribes which occupied the Hot Springs valley. It was natural for these 
ignorant children of the forest to believe in the personality of the storm 
and all the violent changes of nature. That there have been active 
mountains, or volcanoes, in the Ozark range, admits of little doubt. 
The evidence of this fact does not depend entirely upon the tufa which 
covers Hot Springs mountain particularly, many feet in depth, but a 
stronger proof is found in the la)^ers of undoubted lava running through 
the largest stones. This lava is unmistakable and can be accounted 
for upon no other reasonable hypothesis than that of an extinct volcano. 
It is a singular fact that of the many tribes of Indians who have visited 
the Hot Springs, each one has had some legend or tradition locating 
a mysterious cave under Hot Springs mountain. This belief was gen- 
eral and the variety of these legends gives good reason to believe that 
they were not transmitted from one tribe to another, but that each one 
had a separate and distinct origin. 



CONDEMNATION OF THE POKANEES. 

The Pokanees were a vain tribe of cruel and hard- 
hearted Indians who came from the land of the set- 
ting sun and settled along the banks of the blue 
Mackasach, in the Hot Springs valley, a century 
before the face of the* white man gazed upon the dales 
and mountains of the Indians' Country — America. 
The Mackasach was a beautiful stream which strung 
its azure length through the Ozark range and emptied 
its pure waters into the Ouachita a few miles east of 
where the city of Hot Springs now stands. 

The Pokanees combined extreme indolence with 
their cruelty and regarded the Great Spirit with dis- 
like, because they attributed all their misfortunes to 
His anger. They made no sacrifices, except once 
each year they offered one of their maidens as a pro- 
pitiation to the Evil Spirit whose favor they sought 
to obtain. They fought bitterly among themselves 
and the victor drank the blood of his victim like the 
beasts of the forests. Thus lived the Pokanees until 
the tribe had greatly diminished and the remnant 
had more idle grown than their fathers. Too indolent 
for the chase they found their food in the fishes that 
swam in the beautiful Mackasach. Decked with 

64 



CONDEMNATION OF THE PQKANEES. 65 

wampum and feathers, and in vanity always appear- 
ing, they caught the fish with their lances, made from 
the heart of the birch and the pine tree, and languidly 
lived like the drones in the bee-trees. 

Throwing the spear, under the burning sun of the 
sultry summer, became labor unseemly and painful, 
so the indolent tribe concluded to catch their food by 
means of the blood-red berry, the juice of which 
would steal the sense of the fishes and cause them 
to float hke the fallen leaves on the water. The 
women were sent to the woods to gather the intoxi- 
cant berries, and soon returned laden with the fruits 
of their visit. Into the purling stream the berries 
were thrown, scattered for leagues in the waves of 
the blue Mackasach, that all the fish might eat and 
become prey to the indolent Pokonees. Then up- 
rose from the midst of the stream a being of beauty 
resplendent, in whose hair hung the pearls of the 
river, and on her breast she wore the purple and 
crimson of sun-set. In her hand was a lance pointed 
with a stone like frozen blood, and her eyes blazed 
like a faggot in the camp-fire. Thus spoke the 
nymph of the water to the indolent tribe of Poka- 
nees : '' The father of all, the mighty White Spirit, 
fills the forests with game for your hunting and He 
peoples the streams with fish for your feeding. He 



66 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS- 

gives them into your hands when you seek them, 
and thus manifests His care for your living. His 
people cannot Uve without labor, nor will He suffer 
your wanton destruction of the food that He has in 
nature provided. Since you have besought evil and 
made of yourselves a tribe of cvuel and unworthy 
people, His justice and love for all that he has cre- 
ated will not permit you to longer remain in your 
present condition, therefore prepare for the change 
that awaits you." So saying, she lashed the water 
until it rose in a spray and spread over the heads of 
the Pokanees, until the air was filled with blue vapor. 
Then a marvellous change stole over the affrighted 
tribe, and when the mist blew off from the stream 
the Pokanees leaped into the water, for from Indians 
dressed in their rainbow garbs, they had grown into 
fishes, with all of their instincts within them. 

Thus were the Pokanees condemned, for as many 
moons as there are stars in the heavens, to live in 
the waves, around the rocks and in the eddies, pro- 
tected against the snares of the angler and the juice 
of the blood-red berry. 

Note — Hot Springs creek is supposed to be the dwarfed Macka-' 
sach river, and there are many evidences of its having, at a remote 
^ate, been a stream of considerable size. 

The wyiter^ during a vi^it to Hot Springs in 1878,, had his attention 



CONDEMNATION OF THE POKANEES. 6/ 

drawn to the peculiar color of the fish which live in Hot Springs creek 
above the Arlington Hotel. These fish are from two to three inches 
in length, and in shape are like the clear water chub, but in color they 
are like the rainbow. Perceiving a number of them lying quietly in 
ihe water under the direct rays of the sun, the sight was curiously 
enjoyable. These peculiar little fish resisted all efforts to capture 
them by means of hook and bait, but after many trials the writer suc- 
ceeded, by throwing large stones near them, in washing one of the 
fish out upon the level shore. Out of the water it lost all its beautiful 
rainbow hues, but when thrown back again the original color at once 
returned. 

There is no living thing in Hot Springs creek below the Arlington 
Hotel, the point where the hot water empties into tlie creek. 



TEPONAH'S FATAL WOOING. 

Teponah was the son of Wild Eagle, chief of the 
Minetarees, a branch tribe of the Southern Sioux. 
He was a handsome youth and strong athlete, whose 
muscles were like the oak, and his arrows flew straight 
and strong where he wist them. Beloved was Tepo- 
nah by all of the maidens, for soft was his voice and 
cunning were all his expressions. His wooing he 
made for ill purpose and many a flower that bloomed 
to shed its fragrance in the camp of fond parents was 
plucked from its stem and crushed by the sensual 
Teponah. Like the siren that sits on the beach and 
plays its sweet melodies to entice admirers to their 
destruction, was the handsome son of Wild Eagle, 
whose eyes were like flashes of love and his tongue 
was as musical as the trills of the woods' sweetest 
songster, but his heart was as cold as the blasts of 
winter. 

One evening, when the sun had fallen behind the 
backs of the mountains, Teponah repaired to the 
brook which babbles its way down the valley, the tryst- 
ing place, to meet Monetah, the beautiful daughter 
of old Shewaugan whose eyesight was lost in defend- 
ing Wild Eagle in a fight with the Dakotahs. Mone- 

6^ 




69 



Teponah. 



tEPONAH'S FATAL WOOING. 7* 

tah came not, for she saw a queer light when she 
approached the mouth of the valley and frightened 
she was from her ruin. 

While waiting the coming of Shewaugan's beautiful 

daughter darkness had climbed down the valley and 

Teponah was shrouded with night. Casting his eyes 

to the heavens he saw a troop of sorrowing maidens 

clad in robes of white, gossamer texture. On their 

heads were the leaves of autumn and in their hands 

were brown twigs from the pine tree. Circling down 

towards him and throwing a mellow light about them, 

Teponah saw the pale faces of those he had mocked 

with deception ; then the shadowy forms disappeared 

but the light in the valley grew much brighter, until 

day seemed to bask in delight o'er the mountains. 

From the head of the valley Teponah saw coming 

towards him a being whose beauty bewitched him. 

His eyes were dazed by the light of her face and his 

heart leapt with emotion. She came like the measure 

of song, with rythm in every footstep, and when she 

spoke it was with voice whose cadence was sweeter 

than music. She approached Teponah and sat down 

by his side, and he saw that her form was ethereal. 

The robes which she wore were like the hues of the 

rainbow, and in her beautiful hair which trailed at 

her feet were the jewels which flash from the heavens. 



^2 Legends of the ozarks. 

With melody that falls on the ear like the sound of 
a distant flow of waters, mingling its musical splash-' 
ing with the songs which float through the forests, 
thus spoke the Bright Being to the handsome Tepo- 
nah: "From my home in the happiest grounds for 
hunting ; from the fields where blooms the merriest 
maidens ; from the land where flows the purest water 
have I come to seek your favor. Take my hand, O ! 
handsome, brave Teponah, let me follow in your foot- 
steps, let your sweet voice woo and win me for I 
cannot be without you." Then she clasped her arms 
about him and her breath she poured upon him till 
the woods were filled with incense, till Teponah spoke 
and answered : " Bright Being, my heart leaps out 
towards you, I will follow in your footsteps ; I will 
woo as you have won me, and will be a husband to 
you," Giving her hand to Teponah she led him up 
the mountain, while a pathway cleared before them 
and her light shone like a sunbeam, and her touch 
was warm and thrilling. Thus they climbed the steep 
sloped mountain till they gained its rugged sum.mit 
and stood upon the rocks which overlooked the val- 
ley. Then before his raptured vision dropped a 
golden ladder with its base upon the summit and its 
t')p reaching to the heavens. Ascending on its rounds 
she beckoned him to follow, but when he raised his 




73 View at break of Day from Hot Springs Mountain. 



teponah's fatal wooing. 75 

foot the golden mirage faded, and headlong was he 
flung from the crag down to the valley. When the 
hot sun came upon him the craving birds that search 
the valleys found Teponah's bloody body, and they 
made a feast upon it till the blistered bones were 
only left to mark the lover's fatal step. 

Note. — The spot where Teponah is represented as having taken the 
fatal step in his efforts to follow the witch of the mountain is on the 
summit of Hot Springs mountain, about fifty yards from the observa- 
tory. The east side terminates abruptly and forms a precipitous bluff, 
at the head of which is a large stone on which it is said the golden 
ladder rested, " The trysting spot in the valley" was in Happy Hol- 
low, through which flows a beautiful brook, of the clearest and sweetest 
water. 



THE DEVILS CAVE, 

In the age primeval, when the earth was fresh 
from the Creator's hands, and the trees had put on 
their earliest verdure, the Evil Spirit, whom the Great 
Spirit had cast out of Paradise, roamed over the 
earth and had his home in a cave under the moun- 
tains. When the chill of winter stole over the earth, 
he retired to his cave and slept like the bear till the 
warm breath of spring breathed upon him ; then out 
of his lair, like a beast that seeks prey, the hideous 
monster came to work evil. He loved the flesh of 
the dead, and would strip their bones like the sly 
fox that falls on the rabbit. He spread disease with 
his breath and killed the ground from producing. 
When he walked about it was in invisible garb, but 
his foot-falls resounded like thunder. And thus the 
Sioux lived in dread, fearing to pursue the game lest 
they should fall into snares set by the monster. When 
the Indians lighted their sacrificial fires the Demon 
would send the rain to destroy it, and the storms 
were sent by him to scatter the camps and pillage 
the maize fields. 

With many moons of forbearing the Great Spirit 
at length determined to avenge the Indian people — 

76 



THE devil's cave, 79 

to expel the Demon of Evil from the land he so long 
had haunted. Unable to withstand the cold, and 
with mortal dread of water, the Evil Spirit returned to 
his cave, and the flood gates of heaven opened upon 
him. The icy winds from the north blew their 
frosted breaths over the mountains till the water fell 
down in the gorges and froze into crystals that 
reflected the black clouds above it. Then the 
Monster of Evil shook with the cold till the 
rocks were riven asunder; till the trees shed the 
ice from their branches, and the water poured 
through the rifts in upon him. With a voice so 
loud it lifted the earth from above him, the Demon 
upheaved his monster proportions and, like the dash 
of the tempest, he flew through the air away to the 
southward, leaving the shock of his footsteps and 
the flames from his nostrils behind him. 

Thus vanquishing the Spirit of Evil, the Great 
Spirit marked the spot of his living with a lake 
through whose waters no live thing could move, for 
poisoned it was with the breath of the Demon. 

Note. — A gentleman who has visited this mysterious lake, — from 
circumstances connected with which the Sioux Indians circulated this 
interesting legend — in a letter to one of the St. Louis dailies, de- 
scribes it as follows : 

*' In the southern part of Webster county, Missouri, in th,Q: Ozark 



80 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

range of mountains, there is a small lake that goes by the euphonious 
name of the Devil's Den. It is situated on the top of a hill, and cov- 
ers an area of about two acres. The summit of the hill seems hol- 
lowed out and lined with a wall of limestone one hundred feet in depth 
to the surface of the water. This wall is perpendicular, and encloses 
the lake on all sides but one, where a slight break is made for a depth 
of sixty feet The remaining forty feet have been covered with lad- 
ders, and adventurous persons have sought to explore the mysterious 
waters. No living thing has been discovered in them. No blade of 
grass nor shrub, nor sprig of moss can be found in the smooth rock 
that surrounds the dark waters. Some cedar logs float undecaying in 
the lake, but no cedar grows within a score of miles. A substance 
like sperm, that will burn like a candle, is gathei-ed from the surface 
of the lake, which probably with the wild and weird appearance of 
the vicinity suggested to the superstitious that it was the devil's bath- 
ing pool." 



THE WAR IN THE HAPPY HUNTING 
GROUNDS, 

When the world was created there was a contest 
between two factions in the Hunting Grounds of the 
spirits as to the form that should be given to man. 
One side, the leader of which was Bogoo, insisted 
that man should be provided with a tail, and with 
ingenious argument deduced from the continuity of 
all other created things : from the likeness in nature, 
the fowls of the air, the animals of the forests and 
the fish in the waters, all of which were given tails 
for a most important purpose, he convinced many of 
the spirits of this necessary addition to man. Then 
the Father of all answered, that He would preserve 
the likeness of those whom he had created ^in the 
Happy Grounds, so that those who crossed the river 
to come to them should be as brothers who meet after 
a long parting. But to assuage the anger of Bogoo, 
whose ambition was to usurp the Father, the man- 
achese — the monkey — was created, the appearance 
of which was so unseemly that many of the followers 
of Bogoo deserted him and acknowled the wisdom 
of the Father. 

After the lapse of many moons Bogoo succeeded 
8x 



82 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

in raising a revolt, first securing the keys to the great 
box which held the thunder bolts, thinking that with 
Jiese he could vanquish the Father and obtain con- 
trol of Paradise. He assembled his host and arrayed 
them in line of battle before the great gate which 
closed the entrance to the palace of the Father and, 
gathering the lightning, he hurled the bolts against 
the gate until it broke in pieces and permitted them 
to swarm into the now unprotected house of the 
Father, the Great Spirit. 

Bogoo shouted with joy, for, thinking that he was 
unopposed, he would be acknowledged chief in the 
Happy Hunting Grounds, and then creation would 
yield obedience to him. But lo ! while proclaiming 
himself chief of all, the pall of darkness fell upon the 
rebels until there w^as nothing visible, only the black 
clouds which roll constantly before the sightless. 

In the Hunting Grounds of the blessed darkness 
had never before spread its sable curtain, only the 
golden beams of eternal glory, and the liquid sheen 
of radiant splendor had bathed the beauties of that 
happy region. Bogoo was sorely troubled like one 
who meets a phantom, with a mind diseased and 
weakened, and he knows not whence it came from 
nor can solve the object of its visit. Still the dark- 
ness grew upon them like the thief that sucks the 



WAR IN THE HAPPY HUNTING GROUNDS. S$ 

maize stalk, till distressed they fell to fighting; in 
despair they fought each other, and their cries were 
like the night beast which wails as though 'twere 
stricken, and longs for death to ease it. 

For forty moons Bogoo and his army fought 
among each other, and their eyes still gazed in cir- 
cling clouds of blackness, still the pall of darkness 
was upon them. In their throes of anguish and their 
strokes of vengeance they cleft the Happy Hunting 
Grounds, and like the rain that falls above us, thus 
they fell upon the new world, out of Paradise to the 
world on which man lives, and thus they met the 
object of contention. So great was the fall, for a 
hundred moons had waxed and paled while they 
were falling, that when they struck the earth the 
ground was broken and they sank into the center, 
to the cave which they still inhabit, and from out 
which they send forth evil to afflict the earth and all 
that's on it. 

Bogoo, the mighty chief of evil, was as large as 
the greatest mountain, and when he dropped to the 
earth all people felt the shock, for it was like a 
mountain burst, or the heavens rent asunder. 
When the rebels were thus vanquished, the light 
burst out again on the Hunting Grounds of the 
blessed, and the Father of all received departing 



84 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

spirits in the image of Himself and the glory He 
created. 

Note. — This legend, which, as here related, is freed from the many 
technical Indian phrases which have heretofore characterized it, is still 
familiar to the Sioux. The spot which marks the fall of Bogoo, who 
corresponds with Milton's Lucifer, is in the southwestern part of Ore- 
gon Co., Missouri, in the Ozark range. The surface is a plateau com- 
paratively level, and, without warning, the traveler suddenly comes 
upon the opening, which is one hundred and fifty feet deep, fifty to 
one hundred feet wide, and three-fourths of a mile long. The con- 
formation of this great depression bears a slight resemblance to the 
shape of a man lying upon his side, with indentations branching from 
the body, preserving the shape of arms, and one leg thrown cross-wise 
over the other. 



THE LOVERS AND THE TWIN SPRINGS. 

MoNOLO belonged to the Sanakah tribe whose terri- 
tory was in the far north. He was a bold warrior and 
expert hunter, and when his tribe was at peace with 
their neighbors his bow remained strung and his 
horse ready for the chase. 

On one occasion, while riding along the shore of 
the shallow Chockese river, weary in body and almost 
famished with hunger, Monolo saw speeding before 
him a buffalo as red of skin as the sun when it falls 
in the west behind a gauze of mellow clouds. Im- 
pelled by a curious desire, to secure the animal whose 
color was so peculiar, he went in pursuit. Though 
he rode like the wind the buffalo still kept before 
him, and thus was the chase continued till darkness 
impeded his progress. Monolo then made his bed 
on the earth and slept until morning, but his dreams 
were pictures of the red buffalo. 

When the sun rose up over the tree tops Monolo 
shook sleep from his eyelids and straight before his 
startled vision he saw peacefully grazing the red buf- 
falo. Quickly he mounted his horse and as quickly 
the chase was renewed, the buffalo flying before him 
with measured pace like the thistle-down in a strong 

85 



S6 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

wind. All day did Monolo give pursuit, and when 
evening came he rested while the buffalo fell to graz- 
ing. For many days did the hunter strive to capture 
the beast of crimson color, but none of his arrows 
could touch it and though fleet was his horse he 
could not approach it. 

Monolo was now far from home In a land where 
flowers covered the earth and the breath of nature 
perfumed the forests. The red buffalo was still before 
him, and now he recalled the story of his mother, 
who was skilled in all divinings, of the Chief who 
could change himself to many forms to pursue his 
works of evil. Then he thought of her instructions 
how to overcome the Chief with magic powers. So 
he gathered many handsfuU of the blood-red berry, 
the juice of which he pressed out and mixed with 
the sap of a vine that hugs the tall trees. This he 
placed in the basin of a rock and five times passed 
around it while he dipped his arrows in the liquid 
till their heads were red and waxy. Then he bent 
his bow with all his strength and sent an arrow on its 
mission ; with the magic that was in it and to prove 
his mother's knowledge straight the arrow went till 
it lodged in the back of the red buffalo. Then the 
animal heaved and staggered, and a second arrow 
pierced his side, stung his heart and took his life, and 




ss 



Wauniti. 



THE LOVERS AND THE TWIN SPRINGS. OQ 

before him then Monolo saw the painted face and the 
eagle feathers of the Chief who had lured him for his 
evil purpose. 

The evening now was growing, and Monolo knew 
not where his home w^as nor the land his feet were 
pressing. But while troubling at his fortune he saw 
a maiden fast approaching with a wild rose in her 
hair and a robe of wampum on her. Startled at the 
face before her, though she saw that he was handsome 
and his face showed signs of sorrow which at once 
aroused compassion, thus she spoke to brave Monolo : 
*' Whither come you, stranger, and where are all your 
people, for long have I lived in this valley and all 
faces here but your own are familiar to me ?" Monolo 
then made reply : " I have come from the north, 
many days fast ride from here, and my people are the 
Sanakahs, whom I judge you know not." Then he 
related his chase with the buffalo and the way he 
wrought the death of the chief of evil. Spoke the 
maiden with voice full of compassion : "I am Wau- 
niti, of the Passaqua tribe, and daughter to the chief 
Tuscora. Come with me, you shall know how great 
a deed you have accomplished ; how you have served 
so well my people." Then the two passed through 
the wood and up the valley till they saw the smoke 
curling upward from the camp-fire, and heard the 



90 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

barking dogs keeping watch against intrusions. Wau- 
niti ran before him and told Tuscora of Monolo and 
the deed he had accomplished. Joyful shouts at once 
resounded through the valley and o'er the mountain, 
and Monolo was received with the honors of a hero. 
But the joy of others was not like the pulsings of 
Monolo's heart, for at sight he loved Wauniti, and 
when evening came he told Tuscora how he loved 
the maiden, his sweet daughter. But the chief for- 
bade his wooing, for his daughter was his whole life 
to him and he could not brook the parting that her 
marriage would insure. Monolo told Wauniti how 
his heart leapt out towards her, how he loved her at 
their meeting in the valley by the body of the evil 
chief. The maiden blushed and showed her feelings, 
for she had loved Monolo since the meeting in the 
valley. But they could not wed till the death of old 
Tuscora, and thus they parted with their hearts sealed 
to each other. 

With many fears but full of hope to wed the lovely 
maiden when the time should come as she had named 
it, Monolo returned to the north and after wandering 
for moons like one lost on the prairies, he saw the 
land of his people and the smoke from their camp- 
fires. 

Tenderly Wauniti loved and watched by the side 



THE LOVERS AND THE TWIN SPRINGS. QI 

of Tuscora, her father, through the sorrow of part- 
ing from one could she see only the meeting with 
Monolo, her lover. Long did she wish her father to 
Hve, yet his life cleft her heart and filled her with 
sadness. Her face she set to the northward, while 
her arms clung to the neck of Tuscora, and the 
anguish which fed on her heart was like the worm 
that gnaws on the flower. 

Monolo told none of his tribe how he had found 
the maid of his liking, but he lived as one who feels 
a constant oppression, and patiently waited the re- 
turn of the season when he would journey again to 
meet the beautiful Wauniti. 

Many moons had ela^psed, many journeys were 
made, when at length Monolo saw in his dreams 
how Tuscora had died and was buried ; saw the 
anguish of the maiden at the parting and that her 
eyes were looking northward. Then he knew that 
his waitings were all ended, so he bestrode the fleet- 
est of his horses, and with moments few of resting 
he sought the fertile valley, the home of sweet Wau- 
niti. 

Impatient of his coming, the maiden left her peo- 
ple, and, eager for the meeting, she set her feet 
towards the north to find Monolo. For many moons 
she journeyed, till she knew not her direction; till 



92 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

her store of food was exhausted and bitter hunger 
stalked before her. Her horse grew weak from 
travehng, until his feet could make no progress ; till 
dead he lay before her. Still Wauniti kept her jour- 
ney, finding only food in nuts and sweet herbs, 
but her way she knew not, only knew that she was 
seeking for Monolo, that the forests were around her. 
Sore her feet grew, but she bathed them in hot water 
which flowed from out the mountain, and still she 
wearily plodded, while hope grew less of the finding 
of Monolo. Exhausted at last, with her limbs swollen 
from the hopeless journey, Wauniti could go no fur- 
ther. Under the pine trees, in the lonesome wild 
woods, the maiden lay down where the shadows 
grow long on the hill side ; where the song birds 
concert at morning, and the wind through the forest 
sings a musical dirge in the evening ; there she yielded 
up her spirit and crossed the deep river to the land 
of happy hunting. Monolo she found not, but her 
meeting with Tuscora was the joy she found at the 
ending of her journey. 

For many moons Monolo sought the maiden, from 
the land where first he met her to the country of his 
people, crossed the rivers and the mountains, called 
her name till the echo seemed to find her, but when 
the sun sank in the evening he was no nearer her 




94 



Monolo in the Forest. 



THE LOVERS AND THE TWIN SPRINGS. g$ 

than in the morning, yet still he hoped and searched 
the forests, but no trace was there of the maiden. 
When at length despair had seized upon him, in the 
gloaming of the evening, Monolo found the horse 
whereon had ridden Wauniti; then he knew that he 
would never more behold the maiden in the life as he 
had seen her. In the morning when the sun was 
risen Monolo ascended up a valley and reached the 
summit of a mountain when prone upon the earth 
before him he beheld the lovely maiden in her dress 
of brightest wampum, with the bridal feathers on her 
head and the marriage paint upon her features. Then 
the lover loosed his horse and on the earth he lay 
beside her while from his belt of deer skin he drew 
the bone-knife that he carried, and pierced his veins 
till the blood flowed out like the stream which escapes 
from the bubbling spring. And thus Monolo yielded 
up his spirit and crossed the deep river to the land 
of happy hunting. In the land of the departed 
he found the lovely maiden at the feet of old Tuscora. 
So they were wed by the sanction of her father, but 
their home is behind the clouds, and among the stars 
brightly burns their camp-fire. 

From the bodies of the faithful lovers, where Mon- 
olo's blood had stained the earth to crimson, two 
springs arose and threw their waters down the valley. 



96 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

From one came forth the breath of summer, while the 
other bore the chill of winter, but they mingled at 
the outflow and their breath is like two lovers. Day 
and night they sing their changeless song as a dirge 
to sweet Wauniti, and compassion for Monolo. 

Note. — The hot and cold, or Twin Springs, are situated about one 
quarter of a mile from the city of Hot Springs, on Hot Springs moun- 
tain. They are divided by a strip of earth two feet in width and flow 
into each other, discharging their water into a brook winch empties into 
Hot Springs creek. Notwithstanding their immedi j proximity and 
the mingling of their waters, the temperature of one is one hundred 
and fifty-seven degrees, while the other is but thirty degrees Fah.; this 
temperature is maintained throughout the year. The origin of the 
legend here related is undoubtedly found in the personification of the 
seasons, and illustrates the union of summer and winter. The waters 
are possessed of great curative properties, but on account of their inac- 
cessible location few visit these marvellous springs except to gratify a 
becoming curiosity. 




Twin, or Hot and Cold Springs. 



THE OLD INDIAN'S VISION. 

Long years ago a lone Indian, upon whose head 
many winters rested, sore of foot and sick in body ; 
whose bones seemed to split at every motion, and 
the sinews of his flesh were drawn like whip-cords 
and swollen till his tawny skin showed how much he 
suffered, straggled from his camp one evening with 
no purpose save to hide his anguish from those about 
him. In aimless wandering he found the Hot Springs 
valley, and, being weary, he sat down upon a shallow 
bank which bordered the outflow of the heated water. 
Here long he sat, communing with nature and nurs- 
ing his body wounded with the arrows of affliction. 
The moon came lifting itself over the fringe of the 
mountain, and when its silvery sheen danced down 
on the purling stream, the old Indian saw floating 
towards him, in the laughing water, a beautiful In- 
dian maiden, standing erect in her birch canoe, with 
a pair of gossamer wings flitting uneasily upon her 
shoulders, and a wand of silver in her hands. Gam- 
boling in the water, by the side of the birch canoe, 
was a bevy of beautiful naiads, their long and lus- 
trous b.air floating like the lilies, and their lovely 
arms beating the water into a spray of shower- 

LofC. 



100 LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

ing silver. But they were so small that the old In- 
dian thought he was dreaming, and when he raised 
his stiffening arm to wipe the^ vision from his eyes a 
loud and merry laugh rang along the water, and 
from her canoe of birch and feathers the little mai- 
den called aloud unto him : "Ancient father, why do 
you invade our precincts and idly sit upon the bank 
to intrude upon our duties?" Then the poor old 
man, in the furrows of whose face were the scars of 
many years of suffering, reproached himself for hav- 
ing unconsciously dragged his body within the realm 
of happy spirits, and begged that he might depart, 
leaving; no ill will behind him. The meekness of his 
nature touched the heart of the naiad queen and she 
told him to draw nearer, to wade i<ito the water and 
bathe there night and morning till the moon should 
leave the heavens for her trip to old Nomonis ; that 
all his pains should leave him and his face would 
lose its furrows while his limbs would regain their 
cunning. Bowing low, with faith revealing in his 
praises, the old Indian saw the canoe and naiads 
vanish, and, obeying their instructions, he bathed 
both night and morning till the moon had left the 
heavens on her visit to Nomonis. His sorrows all had 
left him, and his face assumed a color like the youth 
when playing ash-ga (leap frog), and his limbs were 




lOI 



The Old Indian's Vision. 



Ihe old Indian's vision. 103 

strong and supple like the roe-buck ; then he arose 
and told his people of the vision that came to him, 
and the virtue of the water. All the tribe looked on 
with wonder at the old man's health and vigor, and 
when they saw how complete his cure was, they 
called a council and then straightway they built 
a temple, and they called it " Musgowah-ta-ka " 
(Praise to the Spirit), on the bank where sat the old 
man. So all the sickness of the people, all their 
sufferings in the body, were healed by bathing in the 
water when the moon was full till she left the heav- 
ens on her visit to Nomonis. 

Note. — The Indians have a tradition, the relation of which does not 
properly belong in this little collection of 1 gends, that, after the moon 
becomes full, it takes a trip afar off, to Nomonis, which is the mo t 
distant spot from the earth in the universe. Some of the tribes think 
that the moon rides on the back of the sun the same period that it 
travels alone in the heavens, and that the moon is a sister to the sun. 



HOT SPRINGS. 

Nestling in the beautiful valley like a bird in incu- 
bation, and sleeping by the pelluced brook which 
babbles its merry and unceasing song, as happy as a 
May-day queen, is situated the metropolis of the 
Ozark range. At the feet of the mountains on whose 
peaks and sides is a luxurious, tropical growth of 
forest and flowers, and from out whose base the 
alchemyst of nature, selecting the most valuable com- 
pounds from his mysterious laboratory, pours out the 
magical waters charged with the power for healing 
the most distressing ills mankind is heir to, sits the 
lovely city of Hot Springs, the spot whereon the 
impress of God's own hand is visible, and where His 
compassion for the afflicted is as boundless as the 
glorious handiwork which environs the springs in 
whose waters His blessings are always seen. 

The discovery of these wonderful springs, the date 
and by whom, no one can tell. More than three 
centuries ago DeSoto and DeLeon penetrated the 
wilderness west of the Mississippi and found the Hot 
Springs pouring out their balsamic waters and mer- 
rily singing down the beautiful valley and through 
the primeval forests. A hundred different tribes of 

104 



HOT Si^RiNGS. 105 

Indians have doubtless bathed their stricken bodies 
in these health imparting springs and then, Hke the 
cadence of a song, quietly departed to the land of 
shadows, leaving nothing behind them save the 
legends and traditions marking their existence. 

When civilization founded the western empire the 
penetrating ken of the white man re-discovered the 
Hot Springs and adapted the magical waters to his 
needs. The marvellous cures they performed excited 
the afflicted, and for many years the wild hill-sides 
and valleys of Arkansas were lighted by the camp- 
fires of diseased pilgrims on their painful journey to 
the springs. 

Notwithstanding the disadvantageous location of 
this now world-famous invalid resort, hundreds in the 
feeblest condition performed the rugged trip and 
returned to their homes blessed with renewed health 
and youthful vigor. So great had become the repu- 
tation of the Springs that preceding the war a village 
of considerable size sprung up in the valley of the 
Ozarks where visitors were entertained with that 
abandon characteristic of frontier life. The town of 
Hot Springs continued to grow and keep pace with 
the increasing popularity of the disease-curing waters, 
and in the year 1870, or thereabout, that most enter- 
prising gentleman, Hon. Thomas Allen, whose fore- 



io6 LEGENDS Of the ozarks. 

sight is like an unerring judgment, projected the Iron 
Mountain Railroad, the completion of which from St. 
Louis to the Texas line was celebrated in 1874. The 
road runs within twenty-five miles of Hot Springs, a 
closer proximity being prevented by the prominent 
spurs of the craggy Ozark mountains. This gap, 
however, has been bridged by the enterprise of 
Diamond Joe Reynolds, who has constructed a nar- 
row gauge railroad connecting with the Iron Mountain 
road at Malvern, and runs up the valley to the Springs. 
The appointments of this narrow gauge will bear 
comparison with the finest equipped roads in Amer- 
ica, and the rail advantages now offered for the trip to 
Hot Springs cannot possibly be improved upon. The 
orisons of the invalids are daily lifted in their praise 
and thanks for the energy and public spirit exhibited 
by Mr. Allen in pushing so grand a highway over 
the precipitous peaks, ragged glens and dense 
coverts, converting an almost inaccessible expanse 
into a luxurious carriage way over which the weakest 
and most exhausted invalid may pass in comfort to 
the most potential curative waters in the world. 

The city of Hot Springs contains a population of 
five thousand souls, and since the advent of the rail- 
road it has grown out of its original condition into a 
city noted for its excellent society. All the most 




107 View of Hot Springs fiom Hot Spungs Mountain. 



HOT SPRINGS. 109 

elevating social exactions are practiced and many of 
its residences and public buildings exhibit the wealth 
of its citizens. 

As a resort for invalids suffering from every char- 
acter of disease, excepting alone affections of the 
lungs, no place in the world can be compared, for 
effective results, with Hot Springs. Not alone is this 
advantage seen in the marvelous efficacy of the waters, 
but also in the beautiful scenery which environs it. 
The location, since it has been made so easy of access, 
is the most favorable that could be found. Embow- 
ered as it is with the most luxurious forests and 
flowers, the breath of which incenses the air, it is 
protected from the chilling winds of winter by the 
bold mountains which rise so grandly on either side, 
and yet it lies in a graceful valley, down which an un- 
ceasing circuit of refreshing air sweeps away the heat 
of summer, rendering the city comfortable at all sea- 
sons of the year. A covering of thick blankets is 
necessary every night in summer and at no season of 
the year does the thermometer rise above the tem- 
perature of St. Paul in August or fall below that of 
New Orleans in January. 

The grandeur of the scenery with its associations 
of weird legends and footprints of the ancestral race 
of America, impress the visitor like a place of en- 



no LEGENDS OF THE OZARKS. 

cbantment, and pours a distillation of happiness into 
the most despondent heart. The very atmosphere 
breathes a soothing balm and lingers around the 
afflicted like a halo of pleasing memories. 













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